How to lose $2100 on the Internet – Blog Earnings and Stats for October 2014

I don’t think that I’ve completely lost $2100, but it’s starting to feel like I’ve invested a lot of money into this, ya know? I’d really, really like for that to turn around soon. Read on to find out more!

Boarding Announcements

Money Propeller is my second blog, Unique Gifter is my first. My goal with it is to straight up make some money, while sharing what I believe is valuable information on all things money. With the goal of earning money, I am attempting to be (somewhat) strategic with how I go about this.
The plan is to be totally transparent about everything and to let you know what is and is not working for me, so you can follow me down the path or avoid the mistakes that leave me in a burning pile of wreckage.

I’m playing catch up with these earnings reports and hopefully I manage to get November’s out the door in a more timely fashion.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of these posts, or if you have any questions you would like me to answer, or stats you feel I should include.

The Strategy

Money Propeller is an experiment in “Spend money to make money.” And I am a-spending! When I decided to launch this domain name (I have a collection, like most online hustlers), my rule for pre-launch was that I needed to have 52 posts written and scheduled. That represents six months of posting twice per week, so that I can focus on promoting the posts and developing other aspects of the blog, like the newsletter.

On Money Propeller I also wanted to have a bunch of different voices and perspectives, right from the beginning. Believe it or not, I don’t know everything! Other people know about topics that I don’t, such as the fashion posts that we have had lately. You can read about our authors here, and there are even more in the pipeline. Do you want to tell your story? Give us a shout and come be our guest.

After the initial launch, I realized something: I wanted to monetize… but hadn’t put sufficient thought into how and when. I focused on writing the content, but I didn’t search out affiliate programs to start integrating them from the beginning. I know that direct advertising takes time, but I hadn’t thought very hard about how to start things off using affiliates, which are also less vulnerable to budget swings and the vagaries of the internet.

I am slowly (ever so slowly) working to address that. If you have some affiliate programs that you can recommend in the personal finance space, I would be grateful.

The Blog Stats

Drumroll please…

These stats are all as of the morning of November 1, 2014.

Pageviews sucked in October, too. Again, I was working a ton, so at least I was earning more from overtime for September and October. Here’s to November being a rebound!

There were 2,623 page views in October, which is 87 per day, on average, quite a drop from August’s 126 per day. There are a few things that I need to do in order to drive more traffic, but I likely won’t get to those until January unfortunately.

(PS: If you are a blogger and want a nice way to track your stats, For Profit Blogging has a free Blog Tracker available.)

The Dollars

This is the part that you all actually care about, I know. Here goes:

So, another month of a razor-thin slice of blue. August was a blip due to receiving funds from other bloggers who participated in a giveaway. I have high hopes for November, so stick with me. The site went live at the beginning of July, so October represents four months of posting and word on the street is it takes six months to make money. It can’t come fast enough!

The expenses are the red bars and the revenues are the blue bars, and they are both positive values, so that it is easy to see their size in relation to each other.

Theoretically, all three bars will be above the X axis in a few months. (I don’t want to jinx it, but that *might* be happening soon!)

October Revenue

$6.16- CPC and CPM Advertising

I don’t expect the revenues to get terribly higher for a bit yet, but I can hope! There is an assortment of affiliate links live on the site (PicMonkey, Fiverr, Amazon), but none have any revenue yet. Until the stats are higher, I expect revenues to be rather low.

If you know of any advertisers or affiliate programs who would be willing to work with the fledgling site, I would be very grateful if you could send them my way.

October Expenses

$456.36 – Writers, VA Time and Writer’s Traffic Bonus

For simplicity’s sake, all of the VA costs are charged to MP, but she does work on Unique Gifter as well.
As I mentioned, when the site launched, I had 52 articles scheduled, and at this point in time I am scheduled into February of 2015, which means the costs are very, very front loaded. I also owe a few authors for posts, but they want to receive payment when they have completed their full assignments, so there will be a solid amount of expenses when that happens, too.

In October, I paid out a traffic bonus to the writers. The system has some flaws, but the basic premise is that the writer who gets the most page views on average, gets a cash bonus once per quarter, so the Q3 bonus paid out at the beginning of November. That does remind me, I need to send out an update email with the current status of things, to all of the writers!

September Net Earnings
($450.20)

That is not a beautiful trend line.

YTD Earnings
($2,132.09)

Well, I crossed another threshold… in the wrong direction! I would really love it if November managed to stay in the positive values, for the month.

Don’t forget, everyone: it is absolutely possible to start a blog without spending this much! I am funding this with past earnings from my other site.

Next Steps

As I mentioned earlier, I am writing an eBook with Kathleen at the moment and we are inching toward the finish line! It is quite exciting. I think that this first book will take us the longest, by far, so hopefully we can figure out the process and move on easily from here. What’s it about, you ask?

It’s a checklist and instructions for starting up a blog. I wish I had made it when I got this site together. If you’ve ever started a blog, you’ll know that you end up setting up one account, just to find out that you need to jump over somewhere else to set up another one, where you need yet another piece of information that you don’t have. It’s very frustrating and can waste a lot of time. This book gets you from A to B, without taking a detour to J along the way.

I also need to write and schedule things past December, as they get rather patchy at that point.

Interviews

Guest Posts

I still owe several people guest posts and am hoping to get to that in the next several weeks.

Deplaning

Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoyed your flight! I really do appreciate you taking the time to read all of this, and I especially hope that it is helping you to learn from my wins and major losses! It is all of you fine folks who got me started on this blogging adventure in the first place, and it really won’t go anywhere at all without you.

If you have any suggestions, again, I would love to hear from you with a quick email or comment.

About Anne

Anne dreams of financial independence and is working her way towards it, whilst still enjoying life. She has a penchant for gift giving, which got her started with her first blog, Unique Gifter. She also loves money (who doesn't?) and needed an outlet to discuss it. Her likes? Seafood, figure skating, road cycling and skater shoes.

Comments

This is a little terrifying to me.. the most Money After Graduation has ever cost me was $2,500 in one year — that was will 2 staff writers and a domain/hosting renewal — and the site has brought in that amount in a single month before so it’s a pretty good ROI. To spend $2,100 over a few months and not be profitable is worrisome.

I’m curious what your plan was to generate income and how much you expected from each stream? I use Google AdSense, affiliate links, and private advertisers. Google Adsense requires so much traffic to make it worthwhile (you essentially don’t make money until you’re over 1,000 visitors per day) but affiliate links can work well if they’re really targeted. Private advertisers are where most of the money is, but they can also be demanding when it comes to traffic.

Money After Graduation brings in a few ten thousand dollars a year from various advertising sources, but for my first year blogging I earned $0. It’s not easy to create a profitable blog, especially in a crowded niche. I’m curious what your plan is — maybe you could do a post on your expectations and goals?Bridget recently posted…Never Go Into Debt For Something That Won’t Make You Money

Haha, it’s all fine, I knew what the costs would be when I decided to launch this way, and what the space looks like. Like I said, the costs are front loaded. I’m using a completely not-complicated, cash-basis accounting system. “Cash in hand, yes or no” is the extent of the math. I’ve got 7 writers with pre-written posts at the moment.
Part of the plan is to build and wait… which is all you can do for private advertising, and I know that’s where the money is at. There are a solid number of affiliates that I have on a list, to incorporate in the future, plus several that I’ve mixed in already. I know that Adsense is a crap shoot, but it’s earning a few dollars a month, so far. Thankfully I don’t have to wait forever to get cash-outs, because it’s all under the one account for all of my sites!
Thanks for the post idea, I’ll put it on my to-write list.
Thanks for the comment!Anne recently posted…Friday Jet Fuel #21

The bars are sky-rocketing! I see distinct results and great improvements. Way too go. By the way, I look forward to your post about the interview with someone who have experiences with Airbnb. I hope you get the right person. Congrats and good luck!Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank recently posted…Why you need to go on holidays

One thing to think about that will maybe help with that line is to determine how many hours of your life you have saved by investing that money. Had you done all the writing yourself, all the work the VA does, etc, then the investment per hour probably won’t be that huge.

As you probably know from your other site, these things take time (6-12 months seems like a reasonable estimate) and so keep up the hard work and I’m sure you’ll be giving thanks for your blog income next Thanksgiving!moneystepper recently posted…How Wealthy Are You? A UK-wide Comparison

Can I hit fast forward on time? That’s the part that I’m waiting for at the moment!
I definitely wouldn’t have been able to crank out the posts without help, I was tapped out after writing my section! They allowed me to get things up and going sooner. The best time to plant a tree was in the past, the second best time is today!

Hey Anne, definitely keep us posted about the affiliate marketing! Honestly, I haven’t stumbled over too many blogs that either a) make a lot from affiliate or b) share how they make their money (if they make a decent amount). Very perplexing… maybe that should be your next eBook! 🙂Melissa @ Sunburnt Saver recently posted…Happy Thanksgiving!

Haha, I need to really figure this stuff out if I am going to write an eBook on it. I definitely don’t have a magical formula (yet?). There are a lot more opportunities if you are in the US, that’s for sure.Anne recently posted…Friday Jet Fuel #21

So interesting! I make more and am profitable from blogging but it’s definitely not yet where I want it to be. I was nowhere near as focused as you are from the start though so I think you will definitely figure it out. Time is one thing that always helps because it seems like you know it will take some work!Fig recently posted…Things I’m Thankful For This Thanksgiving

Hey Anne, I think your stats are great so far. Another year or two and you’ll be doing even better I’m sure. As far as the income – I have no clue there. I know of a few sites who somehow manage to pull in $5k per month (or more), but I have absolutely no idea how they do thatDan @ Our Big Fat Wallet recently posted…RRSP Portfolio Update

I don’t have any advice for you, unfortunately. I don’t make much off my site (less than $100/month) and it isn’t really the goal for it… though every month or so I think “oh man I’d love to make $1000/month”. I just can’t pull myself to do that.

It’s also fascinating to me that your stats for DA/PA/mozRank are basically equal to mine after more than a year, and you got there in 4 months 🙂Alicia recently posted…Two Weeks of Tracking my Spending

I’m quit interested to see if the stats increase or if they stay flat for a long time now… I guess time will tell?
I would also love to make $1000/month off the internet, but I am a LONG way from that being a reality.

I wish I had some good advice Anne but I’m still trying to figure all this stuff out myself, especially affiliate marketing! I just have no idea how some people make a killing like they do! Hope you find your answers!Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…BATB TV: The New BFF & Wingman Cards from Capital One

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Money Propeller also participates in other affiliate programs from time to time. That means that if you click through a link and make a decision to purchase, Money Propeller will receive some compensation from the vendor, at no cost to you.

The Bottom

You made it all the way to the bottom! Thanks so much for reading.
Did you know that The Bottom is the name of a town on the island of Saba, in the Caribbean? I went there on a trip once.
The other bottoms I think about are my own bottom, and the bottom of the champagne bottle. Often when I find the bottom of the champagne bottle, my own bottom grows. Funny, that.

Thanks for reading!

- Anne

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